Sigur Rós – ( ) (2002)

I you would describe this album to a person who knows nothing about Sigur Rós, it would probably sound like the most pretentious album ever. The album's name is just empty brackets, the CD album cover is made of translucent  material with naked trees and there's no track listing. The whole album is sung in "Hopelandic" which is a completely made up language. I think anyone who knows Sigur Rós would not, however, find this approach pretentious or even strange, considering how amazing their music is. I bought this CD immediately when it came out. I had already fell in love with Sigur Rós after their previous album Ágætis byrjun. When this album came out, I was thrilled and it fulfilled all of my expectations, but at the same times it didn't, in my opinion, manage to beat the previous album. It's a fantastic album to relax to and it will take you away from this world.



Sigur Rós means a lot to me. I've been listening to their music for almost 20 years and it's still one of those bands I listen to for comfort. Especially the first half on this album has an amazing power to calm me down if I'm stressed or angry. The first half consists of hopeful sounding lighter songs, whereas the second half is a lot darker. I have great fond memories of falling asleep on the sofa listening to this album after a rough day. Along with Ágætis byrjun, this is my favourite album from Sigur Rós. All the later albums have lacked some magic of these two albums. Don't get me wrong, I love the later albums as well, but to me personally, there isn't a similar kind of bond with the later albums. I've discussed this with couple of my friends who also feel passionate about Sigur Rós and it seems like everyone is most in love with the album they heard first. I guess it's just that the band sounds so incredibly original and magical first time you hear it that it's impossible to recreate that feeling later on.

I've seen Sigur Rós live once at Helsinki's Kulttuuritalo. The gig was just as good I had imagined. I definitely cried more than once during that show. The band was playing behind a slightly translucent sheet and there were birds and things projected to that sheet. It all just kept the mysticism of the band in place. Even after seeing them live, I had no idea what these guys look like. There was one great thing I learned about that gig though. I hadn't realised what it was that made the amazing sound of this band until then. It is playing electric guitar on a bow. There are of course multiple other amazing instruments that make the full sound, but that was something I hadn't thought of. This is one of the very few gigs I've been to with my father. I've introduced the band to him and he absolutely loves their music as well.

Sigur Rós has some of the best music videos I've ever seen. They really are pieces of art. I hope more people would see those. This video of the albums first track is one of the most memorable videos I've ever seen. A bunch of kids are being inspected and sent off to play with black ash on the ground outside in gas masks in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. There are dead birds on the ground and everything seems to be burning. It's a clear message against war and destruction and especially nuclear weapons. Sigur Rós brings up important issues in their music videos, which is great considering that their lyrics don't really mean a thing.

To me, Sigur Rós will always remain one of the best bands in the world. It's amazing how much emotion you can put into songs with no lyrics. Sigur Rós is different from any other band out there and I absolutely love them.

Album on Spotify.